Sacramento Magazine September 2010

YOU WANT TO PUT DOWN ROOTS: East Sacramento

If you’re like most East Sac residents, once you move into the neighborhood, you’ll never want to leave.
“Eighty percent of the people who sell houses here stay in the neighborhood,” says real estate agent Tim Collom with Dunnigan Realtors. What makes East Sac inspire such loyalty? Says Collom: “It’s a perfect storm of all the factors that create a good neighborhood: It’s close to downtown, the houses are beautiful, and the people are nice.” 

Built in the early decades of the 20th century, this neighborhood just east of midtown has a range of charming architectural styles, from the bungalows of the 1920s to the European revival styles of the 1930s and the ranch-style houses of the late ’40s and early ’50s. There’s nothing cookie cutter about it—“every street is different,” says Collom.

House prices are all over the board, from a low of $300,000 to more than $1 million. Thanks to the economic downturn, it’s now possible to buy a house in the fabled Fabulous Forties for less than $1 million. “That was pretty much unheard of three years ago,” says Collom. Still, he notes: “We haven’t taken that much of a hit. We’re looking at 2003 prices, not the 50 percent price declines in other neighborhoods.”

 

Sacramento April home sales prices increase from year earlier

By Jim Wasserman
jwasserman@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, May. 21, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 6B

Last Modified: Friday, May. 21, 2010 - 4:15 pm

More people bought pricier houses in April, signaling the end of Sacramento's bargain basement-only sales scene.

Buyers picked up the pace from last year in Granite Bay, El Dorado Hills and older neighborhoods near downtown Sacramento, researcher MDA DataQuick reported Thursday. Simultaneously, buyers dwindled in Oak Park, North Highlands and other repo zones of the past two years.

What gives?

There are fewer available repos after a long blowout sale, market trackers say. There's also a sense at the higher end that this market is as good as it's going to get for a while.

"Sellers are becoming more realistic (about) what they can get," said Tim Collom, a Sacramento real estate agent who specializes in east Sacramento, Land Park and Curtis Park. "The gap between buyers and sellers is a lot more narrow than last year."

He said he sold three houses this week valued between $350,000 and $800,000.

The shifting sales mix tugged Sacramento County's median sales price for resale houses nearly 10 percent higher than the same time last year, DataQuick reported. The median, where half cost more and half less, was $175,000.

Resale home prices also beat April 2009 levels in Placer, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties.

Less than half of Sacramento County's April sales were cheap bank repos – compared with two-thirds a year earlier. With fewer repos this year, sales in the $200,000 to $400,000 range grabbed a larger market share.

"We've had 70 people coming through open houses in the $300,000 to $400,000 range," said Bob Bronswick, president of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.

"That's the trend across the state," said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage. He said sellers are cutting prices and buyers are still getting low interest rates to make deals work.

"Sellers are not thinking about 2005," said Collom of Windermere Dunnigan Realtors. "They're thinking: 'We might have to take it back to 2003 or 2002 prices and sell it at that.'"

This doesn't mean expensive is back. LePage said homes priced above $400,000 are only a tiny percentage of Sacramento-area sales.

But the shift is part of restoring balance to a market where repos accounted for a majority of sales for much of 2008 and 2009. Banks have cut repossessed homes on the market.

"The way banks are managing it now will probably keep prices from falling much further," said Rick Sharga of Orange County foreclosure analyst RealtyTrac.

Overall, 3,255 homes changed hands during April in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties, DataQuick reported. That was down slightly from March – and fewer than April 2009.

Analysts attributed the slight drop to fewer repo listings for first-time buyers and people delaying escrow closings until May. The state began offering homebuyer tax credits of up to $10,000 May 1.

New homes accounted for 5 percent of sales in the region.

Bob Shallit: Homes sell in Sacramento's high-end market

By Bob Shallit
bshallit@sacbee.com

Published: Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1B

There's life again at the upper end of the local housing market.

We're hearing of a number of recent sales of homes priced above $1 million, mostly in Sacramento's older, established neighborhoods.

Upper-end homes also have been selling recently in east Sac.

Tim Collom, a Windermere Dunnigan agent, reports that one of his clients just snagged a home on 43rd Street – after outbidding three others who submitted offers.

Her purchase price: $820,500.

Another house in the same "Fab 40s" neighborhood just sold for $925,000 – on the first day it was listed.

Like Davis, Collom attributes the sales to bargain hunting by the well-to-do – with low interest rates pushing some potential buyers off the fence.

But he also sees signs of broader strength in the market.

California was "ground zero" for the housing collapse – the first market to crash, he notes. Now, he says, "I think we'll be the first to come out out it."

 

 

 

 

Now Is the Time To Buy

June 2009 Issue Sacramento Magazine

Real estate agents perpetually have said that now is the time to buy. But maybe now it’s really true. With free-falling prices, inter-est rates near record lows (about 4.8 percent in April on 30-year mortgages) and new-homebuyer tax credits on the books, the conditions look sunny.

Median home prices in February were $315,000 and $160,000 for Placer and Sacramento counties, respectively, compared with $465,000 and $380,000 in February 2006, according to Andrew LePage of San Diego-based MDA DataQuick.

Patience is now paying off, not just for Wilhelm but for scores of other buyers, says Tim Collom, a local real estate agent with Windermere Dunnigan. “The buyers that I’ve seen who are really taking advantage are those who’ve watched the market closely, really sat on the sidelines and realize that right now is a really good time,” he says.

First-time buyers are particularly well-positioned, says Collom. The Federal Housing Administration is tying some loans to down payments of just 3.5 percent. The federal economic stimulus package includes an $8,000 tax credit for qualified first-time buyers in 2009. Unlike its earlier incarnation, this credit does not have to be paid back.

The inventory of for-sale homes is especially robust, thanks in no small part to the unprecedented number of residential foreclosures. In fact, nearly 40 percent of the homes sold in the Sacramento area this past year were bank-owned—more than triple the number from the previous five years, according to Zillow.com, the online real estate service.

And an increasing number of buyers are using a specialty tool all but unheard of a year or two ago: the short sale, which means that the bank agrees to forgive part of a mortgage if the property sells for less than what is owed on it.

For existing homeowners seeking more spacious digs, the move-up market also is showing some signs of recovery after several fairly dormant months. “We weren’t seeing that before because [sellers] weren’t able to get out of their houses,” Parkinson says. “They are selling their homes for less but are finding the homes they want to buy are also selling for significantly less.”

How long this buyer’s boom will last, unfortunately, is not something anyone can say for sure. “It’s one of the most frequent questions I get,” Collom says. “I’d have to use a crystal ball.”

Newspaper: Sacramento Housing Market May Be Recovering

SACRAMENTO, Calif. May 5th, 2009

For Sacramento's housing market, The New York Times sees "Signs of a Rebound." Others call it fools' gold.

The newspaper said Sacramento, which was among the first to suffer in the mortgage meltdown, "seems to be in the earliest stages of a recovery."

Tim Collom, a Realtor, is convinced that The New York Times is right: He thinks Sacramento's housing market has hit the bottom and said now is the time to buy.

"Honestly, we're close if not already there. We're seeing prices lower than they've been for a long time," Collom said.

Home sales at his company, Dunnigan Real Estate, are up 15 percent from a year ago, Collom said.

But across town, local real estate leader Mike Lyon doesn't share the optimism. He said even though some sales indicators are up, 65 percent of those sales are bank-owned foreclosures.

Almost one in every three homes is being bought not by a family but by investors. And most importantly, prices market-wide remain down 26 percent.

It is for those reasons that Lyon thinks a turnaround in housing locally won't happen until the end of this year at the earliest.

"Fool's gold, in my mind, is that yes, if I close my eyes and look through a tube and see what I want to see. But if I open my eyes to the bigger picture, it was foolish -- it isn't bottom yet," Lyon said.

Lyon also said there are another 11,000 foreclosures about to join 24,000 currently vacant homes on the local market. Given numbers like that, he said the numbers don't add up to a turnaround yet, no matter what The New York Times says.




Bob Shallit of the Sacramento Bee writes about Tim Collom




Tim Collom meets Mary Locke and her dog Libby in east Sacramento as he passes out fliers Monday on a new listing from Windermere Dunnigan. Collom uses such personal contact to help find clients

Bob Shallit: Knock, knock! ... Who's there? ... A door-to-door realty salesman!

 



By Bob Shallit
bshallit@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 | Page 1B



Sacramentan Tim Collom is 31, a young guy.

But when it comes to his job, the Windermere Dunnigan real estate agent is decidedly "old school."

A rarity among local real estate pros, Collom looks for business the old-fashioned way: walking neighborhoods five days a week, knocking on doors and introducing himself.

"I like to get face to face with people," says Collom, who has a boyish face and boundless energy. "It's still the best way to build relationships."

He hits about 100 houses each weekday morning, mostly in east Sacramento. When someone answers the door, he shares information about new home listings and recent sales in the neighborhood and offers his referrals for plumbers, painters and other home improvement contractors.

Collom's game plan: Offer a service - and gain a customer when that homeowner needs to buy or sell.

On a recent morning, he's knocking on a door on 57th Street. A woman answers, recognizes him, even remembers his name. They exchange pleasantries before he moves on to the next house.

Not everyone is so nice. He's had doors slammed in his face.

"I had one man tell me if I didn't leave, he'd turn a hose on me," Collom says, adding with a laugh: "I haven't gone back there."

Although rare, that kind of experience can make a guy nervous. Collom says he psyches himself up every morning before his hour of house calls.

It's like a workout, he says. Hard to go and do, but "it feels great when you're done."

And Collom says the system he's followed during an eight-year real estate career pays off.

Collom says he completed more than 20 sales in 2007 - most of them a direct result of his door-to-door work. His numbers were down a little in 2008 but still ahead of most agents in his American River Drive office, says the firm's owner-broker Geoff Zimmerman.

Even so, she's ambivalent about Collom's approach.

"It's not the way I teach (sales)," she says of door-to-door marketing. Zimmerman thinks other methods - weekend open houses and online marketing, for example - are a better use of an agent's time and don't risk offending people who dislike unexpected visitors on their doorstep.

But she concedes Collom gets results. "With his personality and his enthusiasm," she says, "it works."

Old School

Turns out Tim Collom isn't the only Sacramentan practicing the venerable art of door-to-door sales.

We heard from several others following our item last week about the Windermere Dunnigan real estate agent who spends an hour each weekday knocking on doors to meet potential clients.

Doing much the same thing is independent Roseville insurance agent Bob Laywell.

He reports "prospecting" door to door on an almost-daily basis.

"It's one of the best ways to meet people, and most of the folks are positive," he says. "I just tell (them), I'm turning back the clock to the good ol' days and want to introduce myself in person."

As for Collom, he says our item generated positive reactions. Except for one call from someone with little love for solicitors.

"He asked me where I lived," Collom says. When asked why, the caller responded with a chuckle: "So I can come over and knock on your door."




Buyers and Sellers Beware | Online Information May Not Be What It Seems

By Stephanie Riley

Grim headlines have left many homeowners feeling like the bottom is falling out of the housing market. While the foreclosure numbers are indeed a sad reality in many areas, home values remain steady in older, established neighborhoods throughout Sacramento.Many of us wish there was an easy way to find out just how much our homes are worth-how that investment is holding up. You know, turn on the computer, do a little research, perhaps see what the neighbor's house is worth at the same time.The popularity of real estate websites such as zillow.com, ziprealty.com and trulia.com makes it seem that assessing property values is just a click away.

Can you compare homes online the same way you do cars, for example?

According to local real estate broker Tim Collom and marketing expert Greg Bauer, the answer is "not exactly.""Eighty percent of people are going to go online and do some research," suggests Bauer, owner of Bauer 360, an internet marketing and consulting firm in Sacramento. "However, the local professional is going to know more than any of these research tools ever could."

The primary reason for this is the vast differences among homes in older, established neighborhoods. "It's easier to compare Roseville and Elk Grove homes that are the same square footage and model using these tools," observes Tim Collom of Windermere Dunnigan Associates.

Someone who has never visited your home, or your community for that matter, has no way of knowing that your home has a gourmet kitchen while your neighbor across the street has the original 1930s fixtures. "In these neighborhoods, each home is like a fingerprint...no two are alike," says Collom.

Bauer's research team found that 1/3 of zillow estimates were inaccurate. In the course of helping the firm's clients increase their online presence, Bauer's team specializes in reading between the lines -- online. In a sampling of homes for sale in the neighborhoods of East Sacramento, Land Park, Arden Park and Curtis Park, we found the majority of homes sold 10-20% higher than their Zillow estimate.

Ten to twenty percent isn't bad if you are buying a lawnmower. However, if your home is in the $500,000 range, a 10% difference could mean losing out on $50,000 if you price your home based on one of these online services. Collom states without hesitation, "These programs offer a false baseline of what the seller can expect."

We found one East Sacramento home was valued at $120,000 less than it ultimately sold for the following week. Bauer agrees that this disparity is not uncommon. "As we have studied the real estate vertical, we have noted that websites such as zillow.com do not supply accurate results, therefore making the information false or misleading." Bauer's research shows that the Trulia site is somewhat more on the mark, but points out that these services should merely serve as general starting points.

With about 150 staff, primarily technical experts in Seattle, Zillow tracks public records such as sales and refinancing efforts. Trulia and Ziprealty operate the same, with no local staff. Paired with price-per-square-foot averages and sales of "comparable" properties, those numbers lead online services to come up with an estimated value of your home.

But wait a minute. What are comparable properties-those with similar square footage and lot size? Those on the same street?

"You can take one street and find vast differences in home values from one block to the next," points out Collom, who notes that homes on either end of H or J Street offer excellent examples of this phenomenon. Nicole Pate of California Prudential Realty agrees that unique qualities of older homes in established areas contribute to their broad appeal, and to the difficulty in estimating value without stepping inside.

Even homes that appear to be similar on paper can be dramatically different in neighborhoods that were not built as tracts using a pattern of four or five floor plans. In the 50 or more years since they were built, each has undoubtedly undergone renovations and changes that further enhance the uniqueness (and yes, value) of these homes.

If it's your curiosity you wish to satisfy, you may be intrigued by the tools available online. Bauer calls Trulia "very content-rich, with an abundant amount of tools, reports, and recent sales to allow you to conduct research." Buyers can begin their research online with Trulia's consumer version of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), providing detailed information on homes for sale, including prior sale history, comps and assessment records. Recognizing the importance of local insight, Trulia offers links to local brokers and agents, information on neighborhood schools and even a tool that will send you an email when a particular home's sales price is reduced.

If knowledge is power, we consumers should be very careful with the perceived power inherent in this brand of knowledge.

Collom cautions buyers from using an online price as a bargaining chip in the negotiation process, noting that buyers who offer an extremely low bid may not get a response from the seller.

Although local news reports indicate that the real estate market is "down," Collom says established neighborhoods have not felt the same kind of dip. He urges consumers to look for information that pertains to their own neighborhoods, noting the disparity among homes available in Rio Linda and Arden Park-two vastly different areas-but both part of Sacramento County statistics.

"The amount of foreclosures in Sacramento County is not really relevant to established areas," he says. "Sales here are still up, we still have multiple offers on homes, and we still sell homes for more than $2 million in these neighborhoods." Pate agrees with the healthy local market outlook, "Recently, sales have picked up and new listings are coming on the market weekly."

Collom, Pate and Bauer agree that the curious consumer will find a lot of value in online services. When it comes to negotiation, buying or selling, however, each recommends without a doubt that the local expert will always offer the most accurate information.